Mass Effect: Search for Sheperd
by PPP123
Summary: What if in Mass Effect: Redemption Liara didn't get Sheperd's body? Now, the Collectors perform experiments on Mass Effect's hero. Liara and Cerberus must travel the galaxy to get him back!
1. A Tragic Loss

Mass Effect: The Search for Sheperd

_ Months after Commander Sheperd saved the Citadel from Sovereign, another ship approached the Normandy. The ship destroyed it, killing Commander Sheperd. The body was lost in space, only to be retrieved by the Shadow Broker._

_ Sheperd's crewmate, Liara T'Soni went on a mission to find Sheperd. She meets Feron, a drell spy, who worked for the Shadow Broker but decided to help Liara. Liara and Feron meet Miranda Lawson, a Cerberus operative who also plans on finding Sheperd's body._

_ The three of them search the space station Omega for Sheperd's body. They discover mercenaries giving the body to Tazzik, the Shadow Broker's agent. Tazzik takes the body to the Shadow Broker, who plans to hand it to the Collectors (an advanced race who stole human colonists.)_

_ Liara and Feron intercept the body and take it to Miranda, who revives Sheperd. But what if it all failed? What if Sheperd was stolen by the Collectors and forced to work with them? Lets begin with the Shadow Broker and the Collector's transaction…_

"Good. Good…" the Collector General stated, "the Shadow Broker has done well."

The Shadow Broker's volus representative muttered, "It was Tazzik here who did all the work." He looked up at his larger salarian co-worker.

Tazzik chuckled, "Hard to recognize if Sheperd was a man or a woman, but they are what you want, and its all yours as soon as you pay."

Liara and Feron hid behind the wall and watched the scene before them. "This is it…" Feron said. "We need that body."

"Alright, don't just 'accidentally' let Tazzik get away this time." Liara assured. Feron tossed a gun to Liara as he stepped towards Tazzik.

"Taz!" Feron exclaimed. "You crazy salarian you! I knew you would be here!"

_Now what is supposed to happen is Taz speaks with Feron for a while about the mission, allowing Liara to get the body. _

Instead, Tazzik shouts, "You traitor! I saw you on Omega! You are going down!" He aims his grenade launcher at the drell.

Feron was nervous and claimed, "N… No… I was trying to stop the asari from getting the body!"

"You know I'm smarter than that!" Tazzik yells. "You are a traitor! Everybody, get him!"

"Liara! Now!" Feron calls. Tazzik pulls the trigger on Feron, destroying him. Liara bounces from the wall and launches a biotic warp onto the mercenaries. The volus representative flies into the air. Liara begins to unload all of the bullets from her pistol onto the Shadow Broker's agents.

"That's enough!" Tazzik says. Liara turns to see him shoot at her. Liara's barrier absorbs the shot. The Collector notices that he has just enough time to pull out his particle beam. The blast hits Liara, gaining her attention. She places a bullet right into the Collector's shoulder. He runs toward his shuttle. Tazzik follows into the shuttle.

Liara brings up all of her biotic powers. She begins to glow a blue aura, a typical side effect of biotics. The shuttle begins to lift, but is encased in the blue aura. It begins to shake, but escapes Liara's grasp.

Liara watches as the shuttle moves into space. She falls from weakness, and sadness. She weeps for hours. Sheperd was gone, in Collector hands now. She wonders what they wanted with his body.

It couldn't have been the same reason as hers. Proper human burial. Or even the humans' form of burial where they burn the body and save the ashes. Cremation, they call it.

Liara remembered, a human equals Cerberus. Cerberus is a human terrorist group that believes in death to all aliens. Liara only worked with Cerberus to get Sheperd back. But maybe, just maybe, Cerberus could help her get him back again, only this time; they need to destroy the Collectors.

This was the next part of mourning. First, sadness consumes the person. Next anger fills their minds. After anger, comes denial. Maybe she will wake up and find herself on the Normandy, ready to do a mission. But that didn't happen.

Liara found herself reaching for her radio, calling Miranda. "We didn't get Sheperd…" Liara cried. "Come get me."


	2. A New Plan

_Normally, the Collectors would be flying through the Omega 4 relay to reach their base and plan on how to take human colonists for their experiments. Not this time though. Now, the Collectors will take Sheperd to their base and continue orders._

Sheperd's body was hoisted up onto a pod, which was regularly used to carry paralyzed colonists, and took him into the base. About three Collector soldiers pulled the pod. The Collector General crawled out on his multiple legs.

"Be careful with the merchandise…" the General said in his strange, mystical voice. "He needs to be in one piece."

The soldiers entered the base. It was a large rock filled with metal rods that support it as a base. Inside, it reminded people of an insect hive. Millions of pods hung on the ceiling. All of them were full of colonists, human colonists.

The Collectors carried the one most important pod across the rocky floor of the base. They followed along the pipes that ran full of human DNA juice. All for what the General wanted.

Or at least who they thought the General was. He was the only one who could speak multiple languages. He didn't seem like a regular Collector. He crawled on many legs. He had a large head that was filled with glowing eyes.

Most interesting of all, he didn't think with his own mind. He spoke with the voice of the Harbinger, whoever that was. The Harbinger controlled all Collectors by the General. When they hear, "Assuming control!" one Collector rises into the air and glows.

Their skin will crack and reveal light from its body. They would then fall to the ground and speak with the same voice as the Harbinger. This one soldier would have increased power over all Collectors. But when that one fails, the Harbinger finds another one to control.

This process went on and on, continuing as the Collectors did his work. The soldiers followed the piped that led to some sort of alter that the Harbinger had them make. The pipes connected to a machine that continued to grow.

The machine seemed to speak to them. It had the same presence as the Harbinger, but weak. Like, a baby version of it. The human DNA was put into it. Adaptation, as the Harbinger said. The future.

Sheperd's body was propped up at that altar. The machine began to lower. "Assuming control!" the voice of Harbinger called. One soldier began to glow and rise off the ground. He fell back. This controlled Collector grabbed the machine.

He unlatched some sort of lever coming off the pipe. The machine came off the pipes. The Collector fitted the pipe onto Sheperd's pod, pumping the juices onto the body. He placed the machine in the pod, allowing it to crawl into Sheperd's mouth.

Liara slept on the floor of the warehouse. Her face was covered with dry tears when Miranda found her. "Liara! What happened?" Miranda shouted in her accent.

"They killed Feron…" Liara cried.

"He would have been valuable alive…" Miranda muttered as if she was angry. "What about Sheperd? You say he was taken."

"Yes," Liara sobbed. "They… they got him and left. We failed." Miranda grabbed her arm and lifted Liara up.

Miranda starred at Liara with disgust. _Last time we let an alien help us… _Miranda thought. "I think the Illusive Man wants to speak with you." She claimed.

They walked towards the door of the warehouse. A large man stood by the door, guarding it with his assault rifle. "Hello Liara, I am Jacob Taylor." The man introduced.

"Yes, Jacob was hired by Cerberus after we saved the Citadel, much like you and Sheperd." Miranda commented.

"We are very sorry about your loss." Jacob comforted. "We are also sad." Jacob gave Miranda an angry look.

"Sure…" Miranda muttered, "We can't keep the Illusive Man waiting." The three of them walked to the Kodiak shuttle. This shuttle was designed for carrying people up to the Normandy, which wasn't ready yet.

Cerberus was busy building another Normandy for commander Sheperd, but they don't have him. So, Miranda, Liara, and Jacob flew in the Kodiak up into space. "Beginning FTL speed." The pilot announced.

The Kodiak sped up, instantly reaching a mass relay. Now was the fun part. Lightning shocked the ship, causing it to fly halfway across the galaxy. The relay launched it right in front of the Minutemen Station.

Minutemen Station was a large archway that gleamed with light. The Kodiak slowly pedaled up to one of the station's many docks. The airlock screeched open.

"Over here." Miranda said as she walked toward another door. Jacob and Liara followed into the dark room. All it had was a table in it's center.

Miranda poked around at some of the buttons on the table. Suddenly, a hologram of the Illusive Man appeared. He was the same as he always was. Smoking a cigarette and drinking some sort of whiskey. "Liara T'Soni…" the Illusive Man said.

"Yes," Liara replied, crossing her arms.

"Miranda tells me that you have lost Sheperd's body." The Illusive Man pointed out.

"Yes sir." Miranda answered. ""What shall we do with her?"

"We shall do nothing to Dr. T'Soni." The Illusive Man commanded, looking at Miranda. He then turned his attention to Liara again. "What we need to do now is stop the Collectors. They are a greater threat than ever before now with Sheperd in their hands."

Liara wiped tears off her face and said, "Quit treating Sheperd like he's merchandise!" She instantly covered her mouth. "Sorry, sir, I guess I am just in shock."

"We all are, Liara." Jacob again tried to comfort.

"We know that the Collectors have contacts with the Shadow Broker. If somehow we can get to the Shadow Broker, we may be able to get to the Collectors." The Illusive Man informed.

"Yes sir." Miranda agreed.

The Illusive Man gave Miranda a slight smile then said, "We need to find out where the Shadow Broker is. Do you have any leads?"

Liara looked down in thought. "Yes! An agent for the Broker, Tazzik, I believe, got away with the Collectors. Look him up."

"I will get on that!" Miranda called.

"Anything more on this Tazzik fellow?" Jacob asked Liara.

"Well, he is a salarian," She replied, "and he is very large."

"Just great…" Miranda muttered. "Smart, and strong."

"Now that is xenophobia!" Liara accused. "Just because he is salarian doesn't mean he's smart! That sounds just like something a Cerberus agent would say!"

"Now now girls!" Jacob yelled, stepping between the two.

"Dr. T'Soni!" the Illusive Man ordered. "If you want Sheperd back, get along." Miranda smirked. "You too, Lawson." Miranda's smirk faded.


	3. A Dead Salarian

"EDI, search Tazzik salarian." Miranda ordered. This was the first piece of evidence toward finding those Collectors. They were testing out the AI program that was originally meant for Sheperd's mission.

"Yes, Mrs. Lawson." EdI's synthetic voice called back. Miranda stared at the hologram of EDI as she searched for Tazzik. _Knowing the Shadow Broker, Tazzik must have something covering his footsteps._ Miranda thought. "Tazzik 'Taz' Allus," EDI blurted. "Salarian, Male. Born on Thessia. Died in Citadel Factory District."

"Wait, died?" Miranda wondered. "Are you sure we have the right Tazzik?"

EDI's hologram became a picture of a muscular salarian. "That looks like what Liara explained, but he can't be dead."

"No other results under Tazzik Salarian" EDI added.

"Liara! Get down here!" Miranda called on her radio.

Liara was sitting in the conference room where the Illusive Man's hologram was. _Liara, get down here now! _Her radio buzzed. Jacob turned toward Liara.

"Looks like 'Commander' Miranda needs help to look up one salarian." Jacob laughed.

"Ha-ha, she is easy to take charge." Liara replied.

She stepped toward the door, when her radio beeped, "You forgot to turn off your radio, Liara." Miranda commented.

Liara's eyes widened entirely. "Uh-oh…" Jacob said. "Good luck."

Miranda charged up a biotic warp just for Liara when she came in. _No, this would slow our chances of getting Sheperd back!_ Her arm's blue glow died down, and her office door opened. When Liara entered, she looked very nervous.

"Just because you worked with Sheperd before doesn't mean that you can criticize everything I say." Miranda ordered. "I'm only trying to help the mission, and you are making it very complicated."

Liara stared at the ground for a second, thinking of what to say. "Sor…" she tried to say, but Miranda interrupted her.

"This Tazzik fellow you fought, EDI says that he died years ago in the Citadel factory district." She stated.

"Well, that can't be, because I saw him kill Feron!" Liara protested.

Miranda sighed, "Alright, figure out how he died then."

Liara thought for a couple seconds and replied, "Maybe it is one of the Shadow Broker's cover ups!"

"Of course! If they didn't want Tazzik to be killed, they would have to make them disappear. The only problem is that if C-Sec was hanging around and investigated his death, then we would be sure he is dead." Miranda commented.

"Why don't we pay a visit to this factory district?" Liara decided.

"This is the human's genetic destiny!" the Harbinger called. Ever since the machine embedded itself onto Sheperd's body, the Collector's continued to build more mechanic features onto him. Now, Sheperd's arm was covered with metal and wiring. They now needed to cover the rest of Sheperd's limbs and let it grow.

This thing that the Harbinger was making the Collectors build had some kind of presence like it was a living being. It was synthetic, yet it was not. They were builders of this creature. This creature was meant to grow on Sheperd. It was meant to use his power. Meant to own him.

"Gear up," Miranda ordered, "You are gonna need a lot."

Liara gave Miranda a sneer. She grabbed a pistol and a submachine gun. Miranda reached for her gear. Jacob marched toward the shuttle. "Alright ladies, we are on a mission, no fighting." He commented.

Liara and Miranda reluctantly walked onto the Kodiak shuttle. It reared off the Minutemen Station and zoomed out toward the relay. "So, what are we doing again?" Liara asked.

"We are going to find out contact, Captain Bailey from C-Sec." Miranda stated, "Next, we figure out what happened in the factory district and decide the rest from then."

"Cool," Jacob replied. The shuttle shook upon contact with the relay. _BOOM!_ The electricity cracked. The three of them held onto their seats. Suddenly, the view from the window changed to the amazing sight that was the Citadel.

"Alright, Cerberus isn't very welcome on the Citadel, so Liara needs to take lead. Don't screw up." Miranda commanded.

Liara spoke into the radio, "This is Liara T'Soni, request to enter Citadel, over."

"Ahh, Dr. T'Soni, come right in." Captain Bailey's voice called. The shuttle paused near a dock. It stopped, Jacob, Miranda, and Liara spilling out.

Instantly, all eyes were on the Cerberus operatives. "Don't worry guys, I allowed them access." Bailey said.

"Hello, Captain Bailey." Liara greeted, bowing.

"Welcome back to the Citadel, Liara." Bailey replied.

"Do you have the information we need?" Liara asked.

Captain Bailey padded at his terminal. "Yes, Tazzik's death is very blank. C-Sec doesn't know much about it."

"Why not?" Miranda asked.

"Somehow, we believe he either accidentally opened the airlock and fell out, or he was killed and thrown out the airlock." Bailey informed.

"But that is impossible!" Liara exclaimed.

"Yes, Liara saw Tazzik working for the Shadow Broker." Jacob explained.

"So you want me to believe that it was a faked death?" Bailey asked.

"Yes," Miranda pleaded.

"Well, I guess it could be if it involved the Broker." Bailey assumed. "But how did we not see anything but Tazzik on the cameras?"

Liara looked frustrated. She thought about her next answer. "Show us the video." She demanded.

Bailey tapped on his terminal and said, "Typing in the date, and here we go." On the terminal, a video showed a large salarian walking between some boxes. He went behind a box, and never came back. "See, he just kind of went out of sight and never came back."

Liara pointed at the screen. "Go back!" she commanded. Bailey returned to the part when Tazzik went behind the box. At the bottom of the screen, where it shown the time, it suddenly jumped foreword ten minutes.

"What the…" Bailey gasped. "Somebody deleted the rest!"

"Whoever it was, they had some kind of access to C-Sec." Miranda pointed out.

"So, there is somebody in C-Sec that is working for the Broker." Bailey shouted.

"Or, recently working for C-Sec…" Miranda commented.

"Harkin!" Bailey accused. "He was recently removed from C-Sec!"


End file.
